Of Cuddle Circles and Vessel Temperature
by noiproksa
Summary: On their way back from a hunt, Dean, Cas and Sam are forced to take a break in the middle of the woods. It's cold at night, and Dean and Sam explain the concept of sharing body heat to an intrigued Cas.


**Of Cuddle Circles and Vessel Temperature**

"Perfect. Just our luck to get stuck in the middle of nowhere with an angel who can't even friggin' fly," Dean grumbled more to himself, but still loud enough that said angel looked up affronted.

"You don't like flying," Cas pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I'd still prefer you zapping us home to freezing to death in the middle of the woods."

It really was just their luck. Okay, tracking the Wendigo had taken longer than anticipated, but ganking the son of a bitch had been easy enough. No one even got hurt – only on their way _back_ (which, granted, was quite the hike) had Sammy tripped and sprained his ankle. (Seriously, how clumsy could one Sasquatch be? Well, maybe it had been the fact that it had gotten dark and they only had the one flashlight, since they had planned on being back before dinner.)

So here they were now, taking a break because Sammy was bitching about his foot and on top of that the temperature had dropped considerably.

Sammy was leaning against a tree trunk, his injured leg stretched out, and Dean let out a triumphant "Aha!" when he finally got the fire going, and then sat down next to Sam, feeding little twigs to the flames. Cas was standing a few feet away, watching him and not being helpful at all.

"The other angels can't fly either," Cas mumbled, apparently still miffed at Dean's earlier comment. Dean must have injured his pride or something. Probably wasn't polite to comment on an angel's wings – or lack thereof.

"And whose fault is that again?" Dean asked, still concentrating on the fire, now feeding it bigger branches.

Sam cleared his throat and when Dean looked up, he raised his eyebrows meaningfully and said, "Metatron's."

Sam's strange behavior made Dean glance at Cas, who shot him a look mixed with disbelief and betrayal before pointedly looking in the other direction. Great. A sulking angel. Just what he needed.

Since he was finally happy with the fire, Dean tried to find a more comfortable position. The warmth from the fire was wonderful after a two-hour hike through the cold woods, but it wasn't enough. His back was freezing more than ever and a quick glance at Sammy who had slung his arms around himself told him he wasn't the only one freezing his ass off here. He turned his left side towards the fire and immediately his right side was ice cold. He turned around and the left side felt colder than ever.

When Dean sighed and turned around yet again, Sam scooted closer, careful not to strain his injured leg.

He huddled right up to Dean, murmuring, "Shut up!" before Dean could even open his mouth. So he kept his mouth shut and put an arm around Sammy instead. Who was he to argue? He had to make sure that his brother was provided for, after all.

Their ruckus had drawn Cas' attention, who was still standing a few feet away and was now staring at them curiously.

"It's called body heat, okay?" Dean explained, defensive, which only made Cas tilt his head further.

Since apparently Dean's explanation hadn't been good enough for Cas, Sam added, "You share it if it's cold so that your body temperature doesn't fall too low."

Cas didn't say anything to that, didn't even let on whether or not he understood that human concept. He just looked away again, probably still sulking because Dean had insulted him. He'd get over it. After all, there was no need to apologize for telling the truth.

No one said anything for a while, but when Cas – 'I can wait patiently in one place without moving for an entire night' Cas – started fidgeting, Sam asked, "Cas? You okay?"

For a moment it seemed like Cas wouldn't answer. But then: "It's my vessel." And after another short pause: "It's cold."

Dean, who had had about enough of this bullcrap, snorted. "It's not your 'vessel'."

Both Sam and Cas looked at him, Sam with his bitch face telling him not to antagonize the angel further, Cas with his signature head tilt and furrowed brow.

So apparently, Dean had to explain himself. "Jimmy's in Heaven. Been gone for years. You can't just blame the dude anytime you experience a human need."

"I'm an Angel of the Lord. I do not get cold," Cas said, deadpan.

"Yeah, I know, you're above all those pesky human needs. Have fun freezing." With that Dean picked up a stick and poked the fire with it in order to occupy his hands and make sure the fire would keep burning.

"Dean," Sam said, a warning in his voice.

"What? Remember Famine when he ate hundreds of burgers and blamed Jimmy? Dude's been gone way before then. And ever since he was human, it's all 'My vessel requires long hot showers' and 'My vessel needs to recharge by binge watching while you guys do the heavy lifting'."

"I never said that," Cas stated, but Dean talked over him, "He should get off his high horse and admit he needs stuff, too."

Sam sighed and then turned to Cas, patting the ground next to him invitingly. "Come on, Cas. You can sit down with us."

"What are you doing?" Dean asked. "You don't get to invite him into our … our cuddle circle." He made a hand movement encompassing Sam, Dean and the fire.

Cas' eyes flitted away.

Sam's bitch face was back, this time probably because Dean had dared to uninvite Cas to come sit with them. But instead of pointing out how rude he had behaved, Sam said, "Two people sitting next to each other is not a circle."

"It is if I say it is."

Sam rolled his eyes at him. "Anyway. Dean, he's freezing."

"Yeah, and he can join as soon as he admits it," Dean said, purposefully trying to piss Cas off by talking about him as if he weren't there.

"I do admit that my vessel…" Cas began, but Dean interrupted him, "Nope."

"…that Jimmy's body…"

"Nuh-uh."

"I do not understand. It _is_ my vessel that is cold. Were I in my true form, I would not…"

"Yeah, but you're not. With Jimmy gone that makes it _your_ body and that means it's _you_ who's freezing right now." The confused frown was back, so Dean explained further, "It's the same for us mere humans, okay? You think it's my _soul_ that's cold? – It's my body. My 'vessel'."

"Humans do not have vessels. At least not in the way that angels…"

"Shut up, I'm trying to make a point."

He stared at Cas, whose face was illuminated by the fire and who was now staring back with an angry expression rather than a confused one. Dean would be damned if he looked away first.

It was Sammy who broke their staring contest. "I cannot believe that you two are equally as stubborn," he said, making both Cas and Dean look at him. "He's gonna get pneumonia."

"Angels do not get…" Cas began, but was interrupted by Sam.

"Dude. I'm arguing for _you_ here," Sam said, exasperated. Good, about time Dean wasn't the only one annoyed by the angel spouting bullshit about vessels and such.

"Oh," Cas said. After a short pause, he added, "There have been incidents indicating that angels might be affected by some diseases that stem from low vessel temperature." And there it was. Most obvious lie in the universe. Cas' lies were rather easy to spot once you knew what to look for. And right now, Cas had definite trouble making eye contact.

"He's lying," Dean shared his thoughts with Sam, who looked at him incredulously, the _Well, duh!_ unspoken but very clear nevertheless.

"No, not about the pneumonia," Dean said. "I mean, that too, but… about the being cold."

Sam frowned. "Why would he be lying about that?"

"Yes, Dean, it seems unnecessary to be lying about something as mundane as vessel temperature." And still with the shifty eyes. Dean was more convinced than ever that he was on to something here.

"I don't know. But you think I don't know your 'lying face' yet? There's something you're not telling us," Dean said, studying the angel closely as if that could give him the answer.

His intense stare seemed to make Cas even more uncomfortable and he started shifting again. Then he put his arms around himself in a poor imitation of a human who was trying to warm himself up (he had probably seen Sammy do that earlier), and stated, "My vessel's temperature is low and I would like to profit from warmth provided by sitting in close proximity to other human bodies as you have just explained to me." Then he blushed – actually blushed, and looked at Sam and Dean defiantly, which was actually quite funny, seeing as how flustered the angel was.

"Oh my God, you _are_ lying," Sam finally caught on.

"Told ya." Dean smiled proudly at his ability to read the angel.

"I did not notice that it was merely humans that get to share body heat," Cas hedged, sounding offended as if Dean had been the one lying to _him_ (about what, exactly, he wasn't quite sure yet). "Had I known, I would not have asked."

"Yeah, well, you didn't really," Dean mumbled.

"I shall watch over you, then, as is my job as an angel," Cas declared and took another step away, turning his back to them, muttering something that sounded like, "Even one who can't fly."

An uncomfortable silence followed. Apparently he had managed to upset the angel for the second time in as many hours. Without even trying. Had to be some kind of a record. But if Cas wanted to be a dick about it… Besides, if he really _was_ cold, why didn't he just use his angel mojo to get warm? Maybe he was running low. What if Cas really did end up sick? Was that even possible? It _had_ happened before…

He was about to cave and let Cas sit with them even though he was being a dick about it when Sam said, carefully, "Cas, do you want to… sit down with us just 'cause?"

Dean huffed a laugh. "Don't be ridiculous, he…" But while he was speaking, he looked over at Cas who had turned back around and was shuffling his feet, eyes looking everywhere but at them. "Son of a bitch. You want to be invited into our cuddle circle."

"It's hardly a circle," Cas deflected. "Sam was quite right about that."

That was so typical. He couldn't just come out and say that he wanted to have human contact, too. Freakin' angels. That meant that it was now on Dean to find a way to invite him to join them without turning this into a chick flick moment. Luckily, whenever there was the possibility of a chick flick moment lurking on the horizon, Sammy had it covered.

"Well, how about we make it a circle?" Sam asked.

Cas squinted at them, tilting his head so far that Dean was sure it had to be uncomfortable for his neck. What exactly he was confused about was anyone's guess, though. Maybe he was waiting for Dean's permission as well, so Dean added with a nod towards Sam, "What he said."

Another couple of seconds passed by in silence. Then Cas asked, "But how would we make it a circle? I suppose we would need a few more humans, but they are hard to come by in the middle of the woods…"

"No. Cas," Sam interrupted him, huffing a laugh. "I meant you. _You_ can join us."

"But we are only three. That would technically make it a triangle. Or a line, I suppose, depending on…"

"Cas." This time it was Dean who interrupted the angel's babbling. "Just take the win."

"Oh." Cas took a hesitant step towards them. "Well, my vessel does enjoy close proximity even without the need for warmth."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Sure," he said, raising his brows at Sam in a silent, 'See? I'm not the stubborn one here.' After all, what was the point in being the bigger man if no one acknowledged it? The acknowledgement promptly came in form of an eyeroll from Sam.

He briefly wondered who Cas thought he was fooling at this point as the angel squeezed himself between him and Sam and immediately got comfortable. Who would have thought? Castiel, great Angel of the Lord, Warrior of God – a cuddle angel.

"Big old softie," Dean muttered.

"Mmh?" Cas asked, leaning into his side.

"Nothin'," Dean said, cuddling right back. After all, Cas was an angel who couldn't get cold – why hadn't he thought of using him as a blanket before?

* * *

 **Reviews are highly appreciated. Posting to AO3 makes me feel like no one cares for gen fic in this fandom, which makes me a bit sad. I'm such a gen girl and I love gen fluff, so I hope there are other people out there who appreciate fics focusing on the deep platonic friendship between Dean &Cas and Dean&Cas&Sam. I'm also taking requests / prompts. For my Dean&Cas(&Sam) vids, see my AO3 page.**


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